The Dimension of Doom!
by Agent Planty
Summary: Phineas, Ferb, Candace-2, and Perry team up to defeat Doofenshmirtz-2 after he escapes from prison. Based on the online Phineas and Ferb game "The Dimension of Doooom!" and set after Across the 2nd Dimension.
1. Back to Normal

**This story is based on the online _Phineas and Ferb_ game "**The Dimension of Doooom!**". I would have liked to write a thematic prequel for the similar "**Transport-inators of Doooom!**", but that game already has a rather self-explanatory story with little room for extra narrative. I got this idea when I realized that it would be really cool to have a multiplayer version of the game where each player could play as one of the four playable characters and work together to beat the game, as the main storyline indicates that it's really the four characters working together as a team rather than just one of them at a time.  
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**The story is intended to take place after _Across the 2nd Dimension_. The first few chapters will cover some background events before we get to the part where the game's story starts.**

**This story will use events and dialogue from the game, but I don't own **"**The Dimension of Doooom!**"** or _Phineas and Ferb _as a whole.  
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><p>Everything seemed to be fine in the Second Dimension. Doofenshmirtz had been arrested and the citizens of Danville were gradually rebuilding their hometown, tearing down or replacing the many conspicuous reminders of Doofenshmirtz's reign. There was a lot of work to do in order to restore the place to its former state, but things were finally returning to normal. Everywhere people were rediscovering activities and feelings they hadn't experienced in years - for many children and teens, it was <em>discovering<em> some of these things, for they had either _never_ experienced them or had long since forgotten.

At first, Doofenshmirtz was kept under constant surveillance, but eventually it was realized that he was essentially harmless. In fact, he thoroughly thought he _deserved_ his punishment, and never showed any signs of resistance. Not to mention that it was frankly rather _boring_ for even the most apathetic prison guards to watch a now-innocuous man fondle his long-lost toy train 24/7. Even watching the cleaning robots that were sent into the cells every other day to dust things up was more interesting. Although no official orders were ever given, the hours spent watching the former dictator slowly dwindled until he was treated almost like any other inmate, with only simple periodic check ins to make sure he was not up to anything suspicious. Solely his high-security prison cell remained a reminder of how much trouble he had once been.

Perhaps any other evil dictator in this suddenly favorable position would instantly reveal that it had been an act all along and arrange a prison break, ready to exact revenge on the heroes who had foiled him, but not Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz of the Second Dimension. He had been sincere when he claimed that he had realized the error of his ways.

Unfortunately, as easy as it had been to deprive Doofenshmirtz of his evil, no one in the Second Dimension knew that it had been just as easy to spark it initially. And as luck would have it, there came a day, not long after constant surveillance of Doofenshmirtz was dropped, when his toy train Choo-Choo disappeared once more.

In the instant when Doofenshmirtz grasped what had happened, everything inside him changed. He no longer thought ill of his malicious deeds upon the Tri-State Area. He was positively proud of them, and was ashamed that he had sat tight in his cell without scheming for so long. He had reverted back to being an evil scientist. And if he had his way, an evil dictator - again.

_Now_ he would arrange a prison break and exact revenge on the heroes who had foiled him.

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><p>Candace Flynn sat up underneath the newly planted tree in the backyard. Most of the time it was her brothers who had taken to sitting there these days, but they were out somewhere doing one of their big projects, something they had picked up from their First Dimension counterparts, who had wound up in this dimension some time ago on the day that Doofenshmirtz had finally been busted.<p>

Having a normal life was... strange. Candace had almost had to _learn_ how to be normal again. She had spent almost her entire life up to now fighting in and being the leader of the Resistance, and now that Doofenshmirtz had been overthrown, she found that she had so little and so much to do. So little, because the job of the Resistance was done. Certainly the higher-ranking Resistance members still sometimes cooperated with the O.W.C.A. and other government institutions to keep Doofenshmirtz under close watch, but as this procedure slackened the Resistance found they were needed less and less. So much, because now there was so much more to life than fighting Doofenshmirtz's tyranny. It was hard to take in all at once.

"No, no, no, no, no..." someone was muttering in distress as they approached the backyard.

Candace knew that voice. That Indian accent was unmistakable. Sure enough, the gate to the backyard swung open to reveal Baljeet.

"Oh," Baljeet opened his eyes wide, clearly frantic. "Good thing you are here, Sir. Is there anyone else around?" Baljeet - or Dr. Baljeet, as nearly all his allies had known him - had been the head of intelligence in the Resistance. While he had almost never gone out into the field himself, his knowledge and calculations had served them well time and time again. Having a rather submissive personality, he was still unaccustomed to addressing Candace as anything other than "Sir".

"No one but me," Candace confirmed. "What's wrong, Baljeet?"

"Good, good," Baljeet stammered. "I-I thought I had better inform you first. Did not want anyone t-to panic. It is, it is _horrible_!" During his last sentence Baljeet rose his shrill voice to nearly a scream, clearly on the verge of panic himself.

"Calm down, Baljeet," Candace said with the air of authority she had always used during her time in the Resistance. She stood up and looked around, hoping that they hadn't drawn any unwanted attention. "Baljeet, if this is better taken somewhere else, we can go inside."

"No, no, I'm fine," said Baljeet, struggling to lower his voice to a whisper. "It's just that, just that I'm _not_!"

"Baljeet, just spit it out already!" Candace said sharply. It had been years since she had last seen Baljeet this panicked, and that was when he had first been recruited. He had eventually settled into a calmer and more composed demeanor.

"Doofenshmirtz is gone," Baljeet whispered, just managing to control himself for a few moments. "_And it's all my fault!_" At this, his voice rose to a scream again.

A flock of birds rose up out of the trees across the street and flew out of sight.

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><p>It was just another normal day in the First Dimension. Or at least, almost normal.<p>

"Isn't it strange, Ferb, that Perry hasn't wandered off for the past few days?" Phineas asked his green-haired brother. Well, technically his stepbrother, but they were too good of friends to really care about that.

Ferb just stared. He talked a little more with Phineas than he usually did with others, but even then they only rarely had a real spoken conversation. Phineas had long ago learned to read Ferb's staring and blinking with ease, and in any case they were often thinking the same thoughts anyway.

"It's great that he's been able to spend time with us these days," Phineas continued. "But it just isn't the same to go for days without saying... Hey, where's Perry?"

Their pet platypus Perry had vanished from where he had been lying just moments ago.

It was a normal day again.

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><p>Standing on his hind legs with his secret agent fedora on his head, Perry the Platypus hid himself behind a fence post, with slid open to reveal a hollow interior. Perry fell backwards into the hollow space to slide down a tube and land in his hideout where he was given his missions. It had been strange that there had been no missions for the past few days when his nemesis normally had daily projects. While having a few days off was nice, Perry had been getting suspicious.<p>

"Good morning, Agent P," Major Monogram addressed him from the large screen in front of Perry's seat. "As you know, Doofenshmirtz has shown no sign of activity recently, and now we know why. Earlier this morning we finally received evidence that he was up to something, just as we suspected."

"Just as _I_ suspected," Carl the intern corrected from somewhere beyond what was shown on the screen.

"Enough, Carl," Monogram rebuked. "My guess was as good as yours. Ahem. As I was saying, Agent P, we received knowledge of this." An image appeared on the screen, showing a piece of torn fabric. It was mostly lime green, but there was a bit of brown in the corner that showed it had clearly been part of some design.

"We've managed to reconstruct the likely original appearance of this clue," Monogram continued. "And have determined that it's part of a design that looked like this." Another, larger image appeared on the screen and attached itself to the image of the fabric. It was a picture of a blueberry muffin on a lime green background.

"As you can see, Agent P, this is a clear indication that-" Monogram broke off. "Isn't that image a little scrambled, Carl?"

"Oops. Sorry, Sir," came Carl's voice. The image then rearranged itself to an image of Doofenshmirtz's face on a lime green background.

"So there you have it, Agent P," Monogram said. "Doofenshmirtz has been creating curtains with his face on them. Your job is to find out what he's up to and put a stop to it."

Perry saluted the Major, then climbed into his hovercraft and set off for Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.


	2. The Message

**This story will use events and dialogue from the online _Phineas and Ferb_ game ****"**The Dimension of Doooom!**"****, but I don't own **the game** or _Phineas and Ferb _as a whole.**

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><p>In the Second Dimension, Candace and Baljeet had gathered along with Isabella, who had been second in command under Candace in the Resistance, in the secret lair underneath Isabella's house. They hadn't used this base for weeks, having only visited it once after Doofenshmirtz's defeat to clean out their belongings and shut down the machinery. Now, as Baljeet turned the systems on again, the familiar hum of computers started and dim lighting blinked on.<p>

"You see," Baljeet started to explain as the lair quivered back to life, "I have taken to monitoring Doofenshmirtz in my spare time, ever since the prison mostly dropped their guard. I simply hooked up my computer to their security camera, like so." Baljeet sat down in his usual seat in front of a large monitor and keyed in a number of pass codes. "I noticed that Doofenshmirtz appeared to spend a lot of time under his covers, sleeping. I should have known that something, something was up then." Baljeet's voice seemed to waver. The screen flickered and what appeared to be live video footage showed up.

"That is Doofenshmirtz's cell," Baljeet announced.

There wasn't much to it. They were looking at a small concrete room from above. Candace and Isabella had both seen this cell many times. There was a bed, a table, and a toilet off to the side. This time, however, there was no Doofenshmirtz. The blankets on the bed had been pulled back, and instead of a sleeping prisoner, there was only a dismantled cleaning robot underneath, arranged so that it would have borne some resemblance to a sleeping human had it been covered. It was clear how Doofenshmirtz's escape had avoided Baljeet's detection for some time, especially since Baljeet couldn't have kept an eye on the security camera 24/7.

"I knew I should have kept a closer eye... asked for help..." Baljeet muttered, cringing at the footage of the empty cell. "But the thing is, sometimes I did see Doofenshmirtz himself in there, usually during mealtimes."

Isabella seemed impassive and looked towards Candace, as if awaiting orders. Like Candace, she had spent nearly her entire life serving the Resistance as the leader of her Firestorm Girls troop and eventually second in command. After Doofenshmirtz's defeat, she had managed to adapt to life without the Resistance (aside from doing occasional surveillance on Doofenshmirtz) surprisingly well, no doubt thanks to the fact that she had taken to hanging out with Phineas and Ferb, whose enthusiasm for helping with the reform of Danville as well as making the best of each day was contagious. Now, however, it appeared that she had no trouble reverting back to her serious disposition.

Candace, who was already in her old Resistance outfit, also remained inscrutable. She considered the video footage on the monitor for a few more moments. The evidence was there: this was a worst case scenario; Doofenshmirtz really had escaped. She trusted Baljeet with the handling of technology. This couldn't be a false alarm.

"How long has it been since you first observed Doofenshmirtz spending much of his time 'asleep'?" she asked.

Baljeet squinted one eye and lifted a finger to his mouth, as he tended to do when thinking hard. "About a week ago," He answered. "Doofenshmirtz must have been returning to his cell at certain times of the day as to not arouse suspicion."

_And it worked too_, Candace thought. There was no telling what Doofenshmirtz could have accomplished in a week. The harmless Doofenshmirtz that had been arrested would not and did not attempt an escape of any sort. If Doofenshmirtz had escaped, he must have been deceiving them all along, or perhaps decided to change for some reason. In either case, it would be the dangerous Doofenshmirtz they had faced before that they would need to deal with now. And if Doofenshmirtz had taken steps to remain undetected, then he must have been up to some scheme that he wasn't ready to fully unfold.

Maybe that was an advantage.

If Doofenshmirtz wasn't ready to carry out his plan, they could track him down and recapture him before word spread and caused panic and, more importantly, before he could become a real threat. Baljeet had been right to inform Candace of this in secret.

"Isabella." Candace turned to her second in command. "You will need to contact the others and tell them to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. They are to be on standby for any action. We have to reinstate the Resistance. The sooner we recapture Doofenshmirtz the better."

"Yes, Sir," Isabella replied.

"What is the good of that?" cried Baljeet, throwing his hands up in the air. "He will just get out again!"

"I trust you're smart enough not to be fooled by the same trick again, Baljeet," said Candace.

"_He_ is smart enough not to _try_ the same trick again!" Baljeet pointed out.

"Regardless," Candace said, "we recapture first and decide what to do later."

"Dr. Baljeet has a point though, Sir," Isabella spoke up. "Surely you remember, it had not been us who defeated Doofenshmirtz in the end."

_That_ was true. The Resistance had fought Doofenshmirtz's reign for many years. They had managed to score some victories in battles against the Norm Bots, but each time Doofenshmirtz had simply produced more Norm Bots to make up for his losses. The addition of Perry the Platyborg to Doofenshmirtz's army (which also naturally removed the top agent of the O.W.C.A., and later on led to the fall of the entire organization) more or less ruined any chance the Resistance had in battles that the cyborg platypus joined. While Candace had done almost nothing except lead the Resistance all her life, there was no denying that those were terrible times. There was bloodshed. There were failures. There were... losses.

No. There was no question about it. Candace would not let Danville return to those times. She knew she could get used to her new life without the Resistance in time. Whatever problems she'd encounter were nothing compared to what she and her troops had to go through when Doofenshmirtz had been in charge.

In the end though, Doofenshmirtz had been defeated when he tried to take over the First Dimension by the First Dimension counterparts of the Resistance, led by First Dimension Phineas, Ferb, and Perry. If anyone knew how to bust Doofenshmirtz, they did. And if the Resistance was to prevent history from repeating itself, they would need all the help they could get.

"You're right," said Candace finally. "Go and alert the others, Isabella. I will do what I can on that front."

Isabella saluted and left the hideout promptly.

"Baljeet?" Candace turned to her head of intelligence. "Remember that I'm counting on you as well."

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><p>Back in the First Dimension, Perry smashed his way into the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building through a window as he usually did. Today, all the lights were off and the room was almost completely dark. Even the windows had curtains drawn over them. Perry supposed that this was part of his nemesis' plan for the day. He listened for the voice of Doofenshmirtz greeting his entrance, but it didn't come.<p>

The sunlight coming in through the hole in the window allowed Perry to see a small black electronic device on the floor. That was supposed to be his trap, he guessed. He decided to walk over and activate it - getting trapped was part of typical procedure, and it just added ever so slight of a challenge to his job.

Before Perry could reach the device though, he heard thumping and an extremely muffled voice calling.

Perry would know that voice anywhere, even muffled. More precisely, it was the voice of his nemesis calling his name.

All of a sudden, there was a clatter and a very loud thump. Squinting, Perry could just make out someone struggling in the dark on the far side of the room. The muffled yells became louder. Doofenshmirtz was clearly in trouble.

Perry crossed the room in two bounds and there he saw Doofenshmirtz, bound and gagged. Looking around, Perry deduced that Doofenshmirtz had fallen out of his closet, which was now open.

"Perry the Platypus, help me!" Perry managed to decipher. Doofenshmirtz was rolling and squirming like a frantic earthworm as he tried to get free.

Perry couldn't tell if this was some elaborate trap, but it didn't matter. If it was a trap, it'd just be part of their regular routine. Doofenshmirtz's traps were never that hard to escape from anyway. Through luck or through skill (but mostly skill), Perry always found a way to escape in the end. And if it wasn't a trap, well, Perry couldn't bear to see anyone suffering like this, not even his nemesis. Perry grabbed the gag covering Doofenshmirtz's mouth and tore it off.

"Whew!" Doofenshmirtz sighed in relief and calmed down. "Thank you, Perry the Platypus. It had been _days_. Who knows how long I'd have been stuck here if it weren't for you."

Perry gave a small nod of acknowledgment.

"You won't believe what happened," Doofenshmirtz continued. "I-I got tied up by myself!"

If Doofenshmirtz meant that he had accidentally tied himself up, Perry could certainly see that happening.

"Oh, oh, I know what you're thinking, Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz said knowingly. "No, I really did get tied up by _myself_. And by myself, I mean a different me. Like, you know, me, but not really me. It was, uh, another me, like a, like a twin or something. Except he was all dressed in black and he had a scar over his eye, which he covered with an eyepatch. I couldn't help but notice though that his scar went _over_ that eyepatch..."

Perry stared in horror, barely listening to his nemesis ramble. It could not be. Doofenshmirtz had been among those who had gotten their memories wiped that day, so it was natural that he didn't remember the Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz. Perry, on the other hand, knew that was one day he would never forget. That was the day he had been forced to reveal his secret agent status to his owners. And that was the day Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz had tried to take over the First Dimension. Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz was far more savvy and competent than the Doofenshmirtz Perry had to fight every day. He had even somehow defeated Perry from the Second Dimension and made him into a cyborg to lead his army of Norm Bots. Perry, along with Phineas and Ferb and their friends, had managed to foil Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz's invasion. Perry even beat his Second Dimension counterpart by causing him to short circuit and restore his former mental state. Perry wasn't one to boast, but he knew he could take credit for that. The last Perry saw of Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz, he had regretted his evil deeds and had been arrested by the Resistance.

Nonetheless, if Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz was back - and doing decidedly malicious things such as tying up his First Dimension counterpart - then there would be trouble. Especially if he had access to the First Dimension.

Suddenly, the dark device on the floor lit up, as though springing to life. Perry spun around and leaped back instinctively as a holographic projection erupted from the device and loomed over him.

"It's him!" Doofenshmirtz yelled. He was right. The hologram was a giant Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz.

"Why, First Dimension Perry the Platypus," said the holographic Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz in an all-too-familiar tone. "This is completely unexpected! And by unexpected, I mean _completely expected_!"

It was evidently a pre-recorded message. The hologram was facing the opposite direction it was "supposed" to, towards the window where Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz had predicted Perry would arrive through. Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz had gotten the location right, but he had obviously misjudged the time of arrival by a few minutes, or at least hadn't expected Perry to be on the other side of the room at this time.

"Listen, Perry the Platypus," said the hologram. "I intend to take over your dimension. I won't fail again this time. That is all." The hologram blinked once, then shut down, restoring the room to its original dim state.

"Wow, uh, talk about short and to the point," First Dimension Doofenshmirtz remarked. "What did he mean, 'take over your dimension'?"

Perry ignored his nemesis. He bent down, inspecting the hologram projector, looking for a replay button. As much as he'd like to take immediate action against Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz in any way he could, he wanted to show the message to Major Monogram and wait for orders first.

As luck would have it, Doofenshmirtz's voice came out of the projector again without warning, though this time unaccompanied by a hologram.

"Oh, by the way, Perry the Platypus," said Doofenshmirtz's voice. "In case you want to show this to your boss, this device will self destruct about now."

At that, Perry sprang back, flicking his flat tail around. With astounding accuracy he struck the projector with the tip of his tail and tossed it squarely out of the hole in the window. The projector sailed out of the building, exploding harmlessly in midair.


	3. Return to the 2nd Dimension

**This story will use events and dialogue from the online _Phineas and Ferb_ game ****"**The Dimension of Doooom!**"****, but I don't own **the game** or _Phineas and Ferb _as a whole.**

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><p>"So, uh, Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz began, "I'm sorry that I don't have an evil, an evil scheme today. Well, I don't at least. That other me sounds like he has one. It's a little hard to make -inators when you've been captured and cooped up inside your own closet. I keep a glass of water in there just in case that happens, but now I'm hungry."<p>

Perry was only half listening. How could he get Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz's message to headquarters? He could write a note, but there had to be a faster way...

"Hey, Perry, Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz called. "Could use a little help here!" He was now biting desperately at the rope that bound him. Perry walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" Doofenshmirtz inquired.

Perry pointed to his wrist communicator, then pointed at Doofenshmirtz.

"What, what, you want to give me your wrist communicator? Why would you do that?"

Perry rolled his eyes. He could never tell with Doofenshmirtz. Sometimes the evil scientist could interpret Perry's expressions and body language perfectly, and other times, like now, he just... couldn't.

"Oh, I get it," said Doofenshmirtz. "You want me to have a wrist communicator as well! That's nice of you, Perry the Platypus, but I don't know what I'd do with a wrist communicator..."

Slightly annoyed, Perry jumped up to Doofenshmirtz's side and put one hand on the knot holding the ropes binding Doofenshmirtz together. He moved his other hand, the one with the wrist communicator, up in front of Doofenshmirtz's face.

"Wait, really?" Doofenshmirtz said as realization dawned on him. "You'll set me free if I talk to Major Monogram, is that right?"

Now they were getting somewhere. Perry stepped back and nodded.

"Well, uh, OK then," said Doofenshmirtz. "But what should I talk to him about?"

Perry ignored him and started up the wrist communicator. A hologram of Major Monogram emerged.

"Oh, Agent P," said Monogram. "What's wrong?"

Perry shoved the communicator back in Doofenshmirtz's face.

"Uh, hey," Doofenshmirtz started.

"Get to the point already," Monogram demanded. "Say, are you tied up? That's unusual, but good work, Agent P."

"No, no, no," said Doofenshmirtz, "it was the other me who tied me up."

"Other... you?" Monogram raised his monobrow.

"Yeah, yeah, the other me, with the eyepatch and scar and everything," Doofenshmirtz tried to explain. "He, he even left a message for Perry the Platypus saying that he wants to take over 'your dimension' or something. I don't know what that means, but that's what he said."

Perry had been looking over Doofenshmirtz's shoulder as the conversation was going on. He saw Monogram look in his direction and nodded to confirm Doofenshmirtz's anecdote.

"I see," said Monogram to Perry. "Well, this is very bad, Agent P. We will look into what we can." Monogram looked to one side, even though there was no one there. "What happened to that machine Doofenshmirtz made on that day, Carl?" There was a pause, then Monogram looked back at Perry.

"Very well. Agent P, you are to return to headquarters immediately. We confiscated that machine and it is here for your use. You will head to the Second Dimension and conduct an investigation immediately. Doofenshmirtz is Doofenshmirtz, no matter in which dimension, so you must find out what the other Doofenshmirtz is up to and put a stop to it.

"As for the Doofenshmirtz is our dimension," Monogram went on, "we'll have to subject him to treatment again since he saw the other Doofenshmirtz and all, but don't worry, Agent P. We will deal with that, and you just get on with your task. Good luck, Agent P."

Perry saluted and the hologram of Monogram blinked off.

"So, so what was that all about?" Doofenshmirtz asked, but Perry was already finishing up with untying the knot that kept his nemesis bound. Without a backwards glance, Perry ran back to the hole in the window and leaped out, activating his jet packs as he went.

Not long after Perry's departure, a group of agents dropped into Doofenshmirtz's lab with a hand truck and some rope. In an instant, they had tied the evil scientist up and strapped him to the hand truck.

"Oh, come on!" cried Doofenshmirtz as he was wheeled out of the room to be interrogated and given another dose of the Amnesia-inator. "I'd just gotten free of some rope and now I get tied up again? Curse you, Perry the Platypus!"

* * *

><p>Phineas was still underneath the tree in the backyard with Ferb, trying to come up with something to do for the day. "You know, Ferb," he said, "we've had some really cool adventures this summer. We've gone to space, traveled through time, found Atlantis, made a trip around the world... I think it's about time we had another."<p>

Ferb looked up from the magazine he had been reading and blinked once. He raised the magazine and pointed at an advertisement for Phineas to look at.

"3D glasses, huh?" said Phineas. "I don't know, Ferb. Ever since those X-ray glasses... Oh." He broke off as he realized that Ferb was pointing to the line of text on the ad.

"See in three dimensions..." he started to read. "Hey, Ferb! I know what we're going to do today! We haven't gone to other dimensions yet."

Ferb stared his approval.

"Do you think other dimensions even exist?" Phineas continued. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Before the two could even begin to plan how to make a machine to discover other dimensions, however, a gaping hole appeared out of nowhere in the backyard. The hole hung in the air, suspended perhaps a foot off the ground. It was surrounded by a luminous bright green rim that flashed like electricity.

"Hey, it's Candace," said Phineas as he looked into the hole. "Hi, Candace!" He waved. "Hey, Baljeet," he added, as he saw that Baljeet was also in the hole, standing nearby.

"It's Dr. Baljeet," Second Dimension Baljeet corrected.

Both Phineas and Ferb walked up to the hole and admired it with great interest. "Is this some kind of portal?" Phineas asked. "It's cool."

Second Dimension Candace arched her eyebrows, just barely concealing her surprise. Surely First Dimension Phineas and Ferb couldn't have forgotten their first meeting already. "Listen soldiers," she addressed them. "There isn't much time to explain. This portal could close at any moment. Doofenshmirtz has escaped in the Second Dimension and we need your help."

"We're not soldiers, Candace," said Phineas good naturedly. "Who is Doofenshmirtz? And what do you mean by 'Second Dimension'?"

Second Dimension Candace was becoming a little worried now. "Perhaps they have suffered some form of memory loss?" Second Dimension Baljeet suggested.

He was probably right. Second Dimension Candace couldn't think of any other reason why First Dimension Phineas and Ferb didn't seem to remember their adventure to the Second Dimension. As she saw it, there were a couple of options left at this point. Either the Resistance could try and restore the memories of First Dimension Phineas and Ferb, or they would have to scrap this part of her plan. She briefly considered explaining the situation to Phineas and Ferb all over again before enlisting their help, but dismissed the notion. She wasn't quite desperate enough to drag the equivalent of innocent bystanders from another dimension into their fight, especially not the First Dimension counterparts of her own brothers. She was about to consult with Baljeet on whether they had any memory-restoring technology when something happened.

"What is this place anyway?" asked Phineas, coming up to peer into the hole.

"Wait!" Candace shouted, but it was too late. The tip of Phineas's nose had passed through the portal. Noticing the edges of the disrupted portal beginning to flicker, Candace grabbed Phineas by the arm and pulled him in through the hole before it could shut down and chop the end of his nose off. Ferb jumped in through the hole after Phineas, managing to get through just before the portal vanished completely.

* * *

><p>Having traveled through the Other-Dimension-inator held at O.W.C.A. headquarters to the Second Dimension, Perry found himself on top of a tall building. Second Dimension Danville certainly looked different from when he had last been there. While not identical to First Dimension Danville, it no longer had the gloomy atmosphere it had had under Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz's rule. The statues and fountains of Doofenshmirtz that had been ubiquitous then were nowhere to be seen.<p>

_That makes my job easier_, Perry thought. Without all the extra Doofenshmirtz-themed landmarks, the positioning of streets and houses here were really very similar to First Dimension Danville.

Perry scanned Danville as he flew around using his jet packs, but he failed to find any sign to suggest that Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz was at large. He returned to the top of the building from which he had started his investigation. Maybe the locals would know something about it. Perry pondered seeking out the Second Dimension O.W.C.A., but he had no clue about how active it was now. From what Perry had seen, the O.W.C.A. (or at least its local division) probably hadn't been fully functional for several years, given that both Second Dimension Major Monogram and Perry had been captured and forced to work under Doofenshmirtz. If the O.W.C.A. had been restored, they were no doubt busy with rebuilding their forces and possibly training new recruits. Perry thought for a moment about his Second Dimension counterpart, Perry the Platyborg, and wondered how he was adapting to his new life after being involuntarily controlled by Doofenshmirtz for so long. Had he been re-accepted into the O.W.C.A.? Perry hoped he had.

The O.W.C.A. may not have been operative during the later years of Doofenshmirtz's regime, but Perry knew who had been. If Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz had escaped, then chances were that the Resistance would know and be on his trail. Yes. Perry would need to get help from the Resistance. As none of the Resistance members had been surprised to see him as a secret agent and Second Dimension Major Monogram appeared to be acquainted with the Resistance, Perry assumed that they had been working with the O.W.C.A. and had had the privilege of knowing about his secret agent identity, so he hoped there wouldn't be a problem there. The fact that the Resistance had been a primary force in combating Doofenshmirtz might rule out the possibility of having to get their memories wiped.

Perry did not know where the secret base of the Resistance had been, having never visited it on his first trip to the Second Dimension. He did know though that Second Dimension Candace had been the leader. Activating his jet packs, Perry boosted himself into the air once more, this time setting off in the direction of the Second Dimension Flynn-Fletcher house.

He circled around the house twice when he reached it, checking the backyard and looking into the windows. No luck. Perry had hoped to get a chance to catch up with Platyborg as well as Second Dimension Phineas and Ferb, but neither they nor Candace appeared to be at home. Perry was about to settle down on the roof of the house to rethink his plans once more when a familiar figure across the street caught his eye.

It was Second Dimension Isabella in her Resistance outfit. She was sneaking around the side of her house, her back pressed against the wall. She cast her gaze left and right, doing an extensive check of her surroundings.

That was enough to tell Perry that the Resistance were indeed active, and probably on lookout for Doofenshmirtz. From his limited meeting with the Resistance on his last trip, Perry had guessed that Second Dimension Isabella had been a highly regarded Resistance member, perhaps second only to Candace herself. If he couldn't find Candace, Isabella would be his next best bet.

Perry surveyed the vicinity from his vantage point in the air. There didn't seem to be any immediate threats nearby, but nevertheless if Isabella was on a mission he wouldn't want to surprise her and jeopardize her safety.

The secret agent platypus flew in closer to the house across the street, hovering at what he hoped was an ideal height: low enough so that Isabella could spot him easily, but not so low that she'd be taken by surprise.

Eventually, Isabella looked in his direction. Her eyes widened imperceptibly in recognition. "Perry?" she asked in a whisper.

Perry responded with a salute.

"But, Perry, you're not..." she began.

Perry nodded.

"You're the First Dimension Perry," Isabella concluded. "Is anyone else with you?"

Perry shook his head. It occurred to him that the Resistance probably didn't know that their First Dimension counterparts had been forced to forget about the entire Second Dimension incident.

"Candace will be glad to see you anyway," said Isabella. "I was just about to enter our secret base. Follow me."

_And I'll be glad to see Candace too_, Perry thought, as he dropped to the ground next to Isabella.

* * *

><p>An hour after First Dimension Phineas and Ferb had ended up in the Second Dimension, Candace and Baljeet still weren't any closer to getting them to remember their role in defeating Doofenshmirtz, or indeed anything about the Second Dimension in general.<p>

"You really don't know anything about the Second Dimension?" Candace asked the First Dimension counterparts of her brothers for the umpteenth time. "Don't you remember us at all?"

"Well, you're Candace and that's Baljeet..." Phineas answered. Though he still spoke in his typical cheery tone, even he was starting to grow uneasy. His own lack of comprehension towards anything Candace and Baljeet were trying to say to him was making him feel that something was off, and that was in addition to the fact that there was just something different about Candace and Baljeet that he couldn't quite put his finger on, and not just because they were dressed completely contrarily to how they normally did. Phineas was no great judge of the personality of others, preferring to think of everyone for their best qualities, but he could tell that this wasn't how his sister and his friend typically behaved.

"I'm sorry, Candace," Phineas said, feeling that he had let Candace down. Candace acknowledged him with a noncommittal hand gesture.

"Maybe we should just send them home," she said to Baljeet in resignation.

"Not enough power in our systems," Baljeet said dejectedly. "It will take at least three more hours to recharge enough power to open another portal against the flow of energy."

Everyone turned their heads as they heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

"It's me, Sir," said another voice Phineas and Ferb recognized.

Isabella emerged from the shadows. To Phineas's further bewilderment, she was also dressed differently from what he was used to. In spite of that, the arrival of another one of his friends cheered him up considerably.

"Hey, Isabella." Phineas waved.

"Hey, First Dimension Phineas," said Isabella as she stopped in her tracks as though surprised by his presence. "Hey, Ferb. Whatcha doin'?"

Ferb blinked in confusion. He had heard that tone in Isabella's voice and seen that look in her eyes many times, in fact, almost daily. Except they had always been directed at _Phineas_, not him. So far, Perry's disappearance aside, this had been a very strange day.

"I've brought along someone else you might be happy to see, Sir," said Isabella, turning back to Candace. Only then did the others notice that Isabella hadn't been alone.

Candace almost smiled. She _was_ happy to see who had come along.

"Oh, there you are Perry," said Phineas brightly.

Walking into view on all fours and his eyes looking in two different directions, First Dimension Perry the Platypus chattered a greeting. As relieved as he was to have finally found Second Dimension Candace, he had been thrown off completely by the presence of his First Dimension owners. On one hand, he was happy. But mostly, he was very, very worried.

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><p><strong>Please do not leave any complaints about the FerbIsabella-2 ship teasing. It is only there because it is present in the game; otherwise I personally couldn't care less about shipping issues.**


	4. Preparations

**This story will use events and dialogue from the online _Phineas and Ferb_ game ****"**The Dimension of Doooom!**"****, but I don't own **the game** or _Phineas and Ferb _as a whole.**

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><p>First Dimension Perry had been instrumental in fighting Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz's invasion, but that wasn't the main reason Candace was glad to see him. She had an idea about why First Dimension Phineas and Ferb appeared entirely oblivious to the whole incident, and she knew that Perry could confirm it for her.<p>

Baljeet seemed to read her thoughts as he observed Perry's behavior around his owners. "It has occurred to me, Sir," he said, "that had we not formed the Resistance we might have never learned about the O.W.C.A. You do not think...?"

Candace remained silent, her eyes on Perry. The platypus gave a subtle twitch of his tail, as though motioning for Candace to come with him. He then turned and walked back into the shadowy corners of the hideout out of sight.

Candace motioned for the others to stay put, then followed Perry.

"Perry?" said Candace, not certain of how to begin a "talk" with a secret agent platypus. Even when the O.W.C.A. had been fully functional and helping to oppose Doofenshmirtz, the Resistance had rarely had to verbally communicate with the agents. Most of the time, the agents had simply received orders directly from the organization itself.

In the background, Candace could hear Isabella and Baljeet striking up a conversation with Phineas and Ferb.

Once Perry was satisfied that his owners would not be able to see him, he stood up and put on his fedora. He pulled out a sketchpad and a pencil and wrote something down, then raised it for Candace to read.

_Why are they here?_ said the note.

"We need their help, Perry," Candace explained. "Doofenshmirtz has escaped here in the Second Dimension."

_I know_, wrote Perry. _I'm here to help stop him. He plans to invade the First Dimension again. But I don't want them to get involved unless it's necessary._

"Didn't they play a big part in defeating Doofenshmirtz the first time he invaded your dimension?" asked Candace.

Perry was already scribbling down a reply. _That was different_, he wrote. _They were in the First Dimension._

"What's the difference?"

Perry turned the page had been writing on. _We replicated their previous inventions_, he wrote on the next page, _and used them to fend off the Norm Bots.__ I had scanned their daily inventions with my hat and saved their data in my computer. We can't access the files here._

In that case, Candace realized, bringing First Dimension Phineas and Ferb here had been a mistake. Furthermore, chances were that they wouldn't be able to pull the same trick here, as her own brothers had not had as much time to create as many inventions as the First Dimension Phineas and Ferb had, and in any case she didn't know whether Platyborg had done the same to their inventions after being re-accepted into the O.W.C.A. as First Dimension Perry had done with their First Dimension counterparts'. Admittedly, it _had_ partly been an accident that the brothers were now stuck here temporarily. They would have to decide what to do with them later.

"They don't seem to remember the Second Dimension at all," Candace started to say.

_Yes_, Perry wrote. _The O.W.C.A. wiped their memories of that day to restore status quo, and so I would not have to be relocated._

That validated Candace's suspicions. "Is there any way you can restore those memories?" Candace asked.

This time, Perry took a moment to think before replying. _I might have a way_, he wrote down slowly, _but I'm not going to use it for now_.

_They need to go home_, he elaborated before Candace could question him further.

Candace said nothing for a few moments.

"So this is a different dimension?" Perry and Candace heard Phineas ask. "Why didn't you say so, Baljeet? We had been planning to find a different dimension this whole time!"

"That is Dr. Baljeet," Baljeet said under his breath.

"It's only a matter of time before they figure the rest out, Perry," said Candace, turning back to the monotreme. She knew that that was a weak argument, but she still held out for the possibility of restoring First Dimension Phineas and Ferb's memories.

As expected, Perry shook his head. _Resourceful they may be_, he wrote, _but it's dangerous. You know that. _

_If we were back in the First Dimension with access to their inventions and under immediate threat, I would agree__ to return their memories_, he added._  
><em>

"But, Perry," said Candace, "Doofenshmirtz intends to invade the First Dimension. Wouldn't it be better to restore Phineas and Ferb's knowledge of the situation now than to dump this responsibility on their heads at the last minute later?"

Perry thought hard for a bit. After what seemed to Candace like several minutes, he scribbled out, _We will wait the three hours until the portal can be opened. After returning to the First Dimension, I will try to restore their memories._

That seemed fair to Candace. She was about to take up the proposal when an image burst out of Perry's wrist communicator, breaking her chain of thought.

Perry held his wrist communicator up as he noticed the hologram of Major Monogram spring up. "Agent P," said Monogram, "after some digital inspection we have identified some inter-dimensional activity going on at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. It's not our dimension Doofenshmirtz's work because... uh, we seem to have forgotten about him and left him tied up in the Amnesia-inator chamber. Anyway, we figure that Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz will be invading at any moment now. You _must_ come back and put a stop to it immediately. Monogram out."

Perry saluted as the hologram blinked out. He then looked back up at Candace and raised his sketchbook. With his pencil he scratched out his proposal and instead wrote underneath, _I'll do it now_.

"Excellent," said Candace. "We have to find another way back to your dimension if we're to make it in time. Could your O.W.C.A. help us? They must have portal-making technology if they could send you here."

_Too risky_, wrote Perry. _They don't know how to control where the portal will show up._

"Hm." Candace turned back to the others. "Isabella, Baljeet, are there any alternative power sources nearby?"

"I'll look that up right away, Sir," said Baljeet, as he returned to his monitor screen. Isabella followed.

Meanwhile, Perry ran out of the shadows. With some foreboding he approached his owners.

"Perry? Why are you wearing a hat?" said Phineas in perplexity, while Ferb just stared as usual.

Perry didn't respond. He reached into his fedora and pulled out a digital camera. He fiddled around with it until one of the photos he had taken on their first adventure in the Second Dimension showed up on its screen. He had been planning to erase those photos from the camera for weeks now, especially as he had already saved them onto his computer, but the fact that few even knew that he had a camera meant that he had been in no rush to do so. He was glad that he hadn't deleted them now. Well, mostly glad, but also nervous about what he was about to do. He wasn't even certain if it would work. Feeling his own pulse speed up slightly, he handed the camera to Phineas.

Phineas took the camera, plainly baffled by what was going on. He and Ferb examined the photograph on the screen, their faces unreadable.

The two looked at the photograph for what seemed like a long, long time. Perry walked up beside Phineas and, as boys' eyes didn't leave the image, he reached up and pressed a button on the camera to show them the next photo. He did this several more times, skimming through the entire set of photos he had from that day. With each photo, Phineas and Ferb's eyes grew rounder and rounder until Perry feared that their eyeballs, which were already bulging as they were, would drop out of their sockets and onto the floor.

Finally, Phineas tore his eyes away from the camera and looked directly at Perry. "Agent P?" he whispered. Perry smiled.

"Perry!" cried Phineas. "You gave us our memories back!" He grabbed Perry in a hug. "But why? Wouldn't...?" He glanced around. "Oh, right. We're in the Second Dimension, aren't we?" Perry nodded. "So that must be other dimension Candace and other dimension Isabella," Phineas concluded, "and Dr. Baljeet!"

"Now he remembers," muttered Baljeet, still working in front of the monitor.

_That clears up some things_, thought Ferb, who had been standing beside Phineas quietly patting Perry on the head.

"So..." Phineas continued, still recovering from his abrupt memory restoration, "if Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz is back like Candace had been trying to tell us... what's the plan?"

"We have temporarily used up most of our power here, but we're working on a way to return you back to your dimension," said Isabella. "If Doofenshmirtz invades that dimension, you'll need to be prepared to stop it."

"And if he stays in this dimension," Candace added, "we'll be ready for him as well. Between the two dimensions we should be able to recapture Doofenshmirtz."

"The problem is," Baljeet spoke up, "we cannot seem to find an alternative location suitable to opening a portal."

Before anyone could say or do anything else, however, a new window popped up on Baljeet's screen, flashing red.

"Red alert from the Firestorm Girls," Isabella announced. "Doofenshmirtz has been spotted!"

"Where?" asked Candace as she read through the message.

"Just outside Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated," Baljeet answered for her. "The one in our dimension, I mean."

"Who'd have guessed?" said Candace with a hint of sarcasm. "Change of plans, soldiers. We're heading there right away."

"We're coming with you," said Phineas decisively, finally letting go of Perry.

Candace considered them for a moment. "Very well," she said.

"You had better take these," said Baljeet, pulling out and opening a small box. Inside were what appeared to be several ray guns. "Your brothers made these on the day they were recruited, Sir," he said to Candace.

"My brothers made these?" echoed Candace. She had not known about these at all.

"They are only prototypes," Baljeet went on. "We never got to use them because Doofenshmirtz was arrested just a few hours later. Your brothers had wanted to make improvements on them, but they will do."

The others all reached into the box and picked out a ray gun each. Candace examined hers with some uncertainty.

"If these are prototypes, what flaws do they have?" she asked.

"Not much, but your brothers had wanted to standardize them and optimize their firing rate and power. Right now their properties vary depending on the personality of the user."

"Ray guns that detect your personality? Cool!" said Phineas as he inspected his. "Oops." He had accidentally pressed the trigger, sending a rapid burst of red sparks shooting across the room. Perry leaped out of the way just in time, doing a back flip in midair to avoid the shot. When he landed, however, he noticed that his jet packs had been damaged. He attempted to start them up to see if they were still working. They weren't.

"Sorry, Perry," Phineas apologized. Perry waved his hand to show that it was OK. He could just get the jet packs replaced at the O.W.C.A. Granted, this _was_ a bad time to have had them disabled.

"We should bring these," said Isabella, producing a few strangely-shaped bundles and handing them out. "Firestorm Girl Standard Issue Gliders. You can't fly with them like you can with jet packs, but they're useful. Just pull on this line and they'll extend, allowing you to glide through the air."

"Ferb, Perry," said Phineas as he put on his glider pack, "I know what we're _really_ going to do today! We're going to save both Tri-State Areas again!"

Ferb stared an affirmative. Perry, however, looked apprehensive in spite of his owner's enthusiasm.

"What's wrong, Perry?" asked Phineas as he noticed the lack of conviction from his pet - indeed, his friend.

Perry felt a hand on his shoulder. To his surprise, he turned to see Candace bent over him.

"I know," whispered Candace. "But at this point I think you'll have to let them come. You won't ever stop worrying about them, but they'll... they'll be fine." She cleared her throat.

Perry nodded and gave her a small smile. After all, he had seen for himself last time how skilled the boys could be when in a pinch.

"Right, troops," said Candace as she stood up straight. "We're going now."

"Good luck!" Baljeet called after the others. As usual, he'd be remaining at the base to supply them with information if they happened to need it. Just as Perry was about to leave the hideout, however, the secret agent turned around and tossed a small gadget to him.

Baljeet tried to catch the gadget, but it slipped through his fingers and landed in one of his big pockets instead. He had to rummage through the pocket to retrieve it. When he came up with it again, he recognized at once what it was.

"A spare camera to link up with your wrist communicator?" he guessed. "We will be able to contact each other with this, is that correct?"

Perry gave Baljeet a thumbs up, then hurried off after the others.

* * *

><p><strong>Perry is a fast writer, ha. We should reach where the game's storyline starts off in the next chapter.<br>**


	5. The Gambit

**This story uses events and dialogue from the online _Phineas and Ferb_ game ****"**The Dimension of Doooom!**"****, but I don't own **the game** or _Phineas and Ferb _as a whole.**

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><p>Minutes later, Candace, Isabella, Phineas, Ferb, and Perry were in mine carts on their way to Doofenshmirtz's headquarters. Phineas recognized the route they were taking as the same as the one they had used to rescue Perry from Doofenshmirtz the first time they had been here. It wasn't long before they reached their destination and Candace jammed the carts to a stop using her staff. The group got off the carts and went up to the large metal roller doors that marked the underground entrances for the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building.<p>

The Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building had not been torn down during the reform of Danville, although plans had been made to renovate it. With the exception of the fact that the walls of the building (which had formerly been covered in the repeated spelling of the word "Doof") had been painted over, everything looked mostly the same.

"Here's the plan, soldiers," said Candace. "We head into Doofenshmirtz's headquarters. If he's there, we must detain him as quickly as we can. It could take some searching, but chances are he'll be taken by surprise. Isabella, you head above ground and rally your troop, along with anyone else you might find nearby. Keep a close watch on all escape routes. You will need to be prepared if Doofenshmirtz tries to escape."

"Yes, Sir," replied Isabella with a salute.

Before she could turn and leave, Perry tapped her on the arm. From his fedora he pulled out another spare camera, the same sort he had given to Baljeet, and handed it to her.

Isabella looked at the camera with some bemusement, so Perry went over and pressed a small button on the gadget. With mild surprise Isabella saw herself projected out of Perry's wrist communicator as a hologram. When she looked through the camera itself, she could see from the point of view of her holographic self, and her eyes widened slightly in understanding.

"Good call, Perry," said Candace. "We'll be in touch with you if anything happens, Isabella. And if something goes on at your end, report back."

"Yes, Sir," Isabella said again before departing into the mine tunnels.

It had occurred to Candace that it would be best for her and her second in command to be in different locations on this mission. If something went wrong, they couldn't afford for both of the two highest ranking members of the Resistance to be captured - or worse. And although she was fairly confident that Doofenshmirtz's lack of activity suggested that he was not ready to unveil whatever he had in store, at the same time the silence on Doofenshmirtz's part meant that there was also much ambiguity, and they really had no way of knowing how far he was along on his plan.

Candace turned to the others. "The rest of you, stay close to me, keep your heads down, and don't make any sudden movements, got it?" she said. She had contemplated sending their First Dimension allies off with Isabella, but decided against it. She might need backup. The last time Candace had taken a risk and gone into Doofenshmirtz's headquarters alone, she had been captured. While none of the First Dimension company besides Perry had received formal training in combat and related skills, she could think of worse backup than the top agent of the First Dimension O.W.C.A. and two technological geniuses capable of using nearly anything at their disposal to great advantage.

Phineas, Ferb, and Perry all saluted her in an imitation of the Resistance, while Phineas also added a "Yes, Sir".

Candace pressed the red button on the wall that opened one of the doors and the door scrolled its way up to reveal a dark hallway.

"Stay back," Candace cautioned as she and the others drew back along the wall, away from the opening. The one time this hallway had had its lights off was when Doofenshmirtz had arranged a trap for the Resistance. At the same time, it would make sense for Doofenshmirtz to keep his lights off at this time as to not attract attention.

Having left her staff in the mine carts, Candace drew her ray gun as she peered back into the doorway. She fired.

Unlike Phineas's quick burst of red sparks, Candace's ammo turned out to be a single swift yellow blast that flew across the hallway with great force. The shot disintegrated as it struck the end of the hallway. There was no sound of it colliding with anything else in its path or of anyone rushing to move out of its way.

"Looks like the coast is clear," Candace announced. "Let's go." She stepped cautiously through the entrance, her ray gun still held out in front of her, and the others followed.

They made their way through Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated rather quickly. When Doofenshmirtz had been in charge there would have been Norm Bots acting as security guards in the halls, but now the group met no opposition. Phineas, Ferb, and Perry were following Candace more or less blindly, as she was the only one who could really navigate the building. The amount and design of the rooms and corridors of the Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated were far more elaborate and extravagant than the one in the First Dimension that Perry was used to. Despite the lack of obstruction so far, Candace always double checked around corners vigilantly when they reached them.

_If Doofenshmirtz is still outside_, Candace reasoned, _the Firestorm Girls would have notified us by now. He's most likely in his lab or his former office. The office is on the top floor; we'll try the lab first._

Through hallways and up stairs they went. Dim as the building was, Candace seemed to know the way around by heart. Eventually, as they peered around the umpteenth corner, they came across a corridor that stood out from the others.

Light was being projected from one of the rooms along the corridor. The room was Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lab.

The slight urge to break into some crazy victory dance right then and there resurfaced somewhere deep inside Candace. It had been years since she had last felt this way; her involvement in the Resistance had quickly quelled any such follies. Now she just shook her head and discarded the notion once again. Recognizing that they were probably too close to Doofenshmirtz for even whispered verbal orders to be without risk, she put a finger to her lips, then stole her way around the corner until she could see into the lit room.

Doofenshmirtz was in the lab. He had his back to the doorway and appeared to be working on a machine of some type.

This was going to be easy. A bit too easy. Whatever one may say of the Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz, he wasn't _this_ unprepared most of the time.

Sure enough, Phineas mouthed a warning and pointed abruptly to a revolving structure on the ceiling of the lab, a laser. Presumably it could detect intruders automatically and vaporize them when they came in shooting range. At the moment it was directed away from the group, but once it came around full circle it would be pointing squarely at them, at which point it would almost certainly fire.

Candace shot first. Her yellow blast struck the ceiling-mounted laser, rendering it useless. Small metal scraps rained onto the floor and electrical sparks fizzled among the laser's damaged wiring. In the same instant, Perry vaulted into the lab with Phineas and Ferb in tow and struck a fighting stance. They squinted a little from the lights, having become accustomed to the near pitch darkness in the corridors. Even then, Perry recognized at once what Doofenshmirtz's machine was, and it wasn't long before Phineas and Ferb figured it out as well. It was the Other-Dimension-inator.

As Doofenshmirtz turned around to face the disturbance, Candace strode to the front of the posse, her shades shielding her from the effects of the lighting.

"Your days are finally numbered, Dr. Doofenshmirtz!" she declared.

"Yeah, and we're not going to let you take over our dimension!" Phineas added, having recovered from the change in illumination. Beside him, Perry also chattered his indignation.

"Really?" replied Doofenshmirtz. "Really, my days are numbered? Now, just out of curiosity, did you start numbering from like way back? Like, 'He's got 16000 days left', or did you start recently? Like, is this day one?"

At that, a dozen alarms rang in Perry's head. This was not the voice of Doofenshmirtz caught unawares. This was the voice of Doofenshmirtz expecting their arrival all along. And knowing Doofenshmirtz, he would have prepared a...

"Either way, it doesn't matter," Doofenshmirtz continued. "You and your little team will never defeat me and my Other-Dimension-inator! In fact, you have counted yourself..." He revealed a small remote in his hand. "Right into my trap!"

Perry had a feeling that whatever trap the Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz would spring on them would not be as easy to escape from as those of the First Dimension Doofenshmirtz.

Candace opened fire on the evil scientist, but he ducked under a table and pressed the single blue button on his remote. The floor beneath the team slid out from under their feet like a panel, sending them plummeting into the depths of a massive chute.

Right before he fell out of Doofenshmirtz's sight, however, Perry drew his own ray gun and, instead of pointing it at Doofenshmirtz, he aimed for the Other-Dimension-inator. Perry's shot was not an array of sparks like Phineas's or a single distinct blast like Candace's, but a cloudy orange stream that resembled a miniature comet. It did not fly as quickly through the air as Phineas's and Candace's, but the impact it made when it hit its target was greater than that of either. By now Perry and the others had fallen some way down the chute, but the sound of an explosion up above did give Perry something to be pleased about even in their current predicament.

Back in Doofenshmirtz's lab, Doofenshmirtz emerged from under the table and examined the now ruined Other-Dimension-inator. Something of a setback to be sure, but nothing he hadn't foreseen and prepared for. He had expected a slightly larger group to confront him, but if he only got to trap four individuals then there were no better candidates than those four. So far, everything had gone according to plan.


	6. In the Mines

**This story uses events and dialogue from the online _Phineas and Ferb_ game ****"**The Dimension of Doooom!**"****, but I don't own **the game** or _Phineas and Ferb _as a whole.**

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><p>It was a long drop. Assuming that there wasn't a significant amount of soft padding below, chances were that the entire group would have gone splat once they hit the bottom. At least, that would have been the case had they not been wearing the Firestorm Girl Standard Issue Gliders.<p>

"Deploy gliders, soldiers," Candace ordered as she pulled on her glider string. A pair of rigid wing-shaped structures unfolded from either side of the glider pack, slackening her fall considerably by acting as a parachute.

Phineas and Ferb, both being quick thinkers, had made use of their own gliders even before Candace had finished giving the order. Perry was the last to activate his. Though one of his hands had shot instinctively towards his own string, his first thought had been to make sure Phineas and Ferb were safe.

As the panel on the floor they had fallen through slid back into place, the group was plunged into near darkness again. However, they could see light down below zooming up to meet them, though no longer at a death-defying rate.

"These gliders are pretty neat, aren't they, Ferb?" Phineas observed as they all drifted their way down the chute. "Maybe we could trick them up later."

At last, they touched down on the ground and their gliders retracted automatically. They were in a cave or tunnel of some sort, surrounded by rocky walls. The light they had seen was being emitted by glowing gemstones on the rocks.

"Familiar scenery," Phineas remarked, walking up to examine some gemstones sticking up out of the ground in front of him. "I think we're back in the mines."

"Standby, soldiers," Candace told the others. "If we can reach the mine carts from here we might have a shot at catching up to Doofenshmirtz. Perry, can we get in touch with Isabella?"

Perry obliged by tapping a few small buttons on his wrist communicator. It took a few moments before a hologram of Isabella appeared.

"Is this working?" said Isabella. Perry saluted her in response, and raised his arm to allow Candace to speak with the hologram more easily.

"Sir, where are you?" Isabella asked as she noticed that they weren't in the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building.

"Doofenshmirtz got the drop on us," Candace replied somewhat bitterly. "We're somewhere in the mines. Are your troops all stationed?"

"Yes, Sir," Isabella confirmed.

"Remain at your posts," Candace instructed. "We'll try to find the way back and give it another go. Keep us posted if anything happens."

"Got it, Sir."

"You're dismissed."

Isabella's hologram saluted and vanished.

"Get Baljeet," Candace told Perry.

The platypus tapped the buttons on his communicator again. Baljeet's hologram promptly materialized.

"How may I help you?" asked Baljeet, pressing his fingertips together.

"We need to know where we are," said Candace.

"You're in the mines," Baljeet answered.

"Yes, we've figured out that much," Candace said pointedly.

"We dropped in straight down from Doofenshmirtz's lab," Phineas explained. He and Ferb had crowded around to listen in on the conversation.

"Hang on then," said Baljeet. "I will see if I can assist you there. Straight below Doofenshmirtz's lab..." The hologram held up his hands and moved his fingers in a typing motion while his eyes seemed to focus off into the distance. Though he was really just typing on his computer, taken out of context it was a very unusual sight.

After a few minutes of typing, Baljeet's eyes shifted back to the faces of the group, though his fingers continued to dance across the (invisible) keyboard. "You are in luck," he announced. "Here I have a map of the entire mine tunnel system. The nearest mine cart is not far away, and the tunnels here go only one way without any side paths. I should hope that you will be able to find your way around with ease. Reach the mine cart and I will be able to give you further directions from there."

"Thank you, Baljeet," Candace said. "You're dismissed."

Baljeet's hologram gave a nod and disappeared.

"Let's go, soldiers," said Candace, hurrying towards the only doorway in the cave. "Follow closely and don't dawdle. It shouldn't take long, but keep your guns at the ready. There's no telling what we'll run into in here if Doofenshmirtz knows we're around. I wouldn't put it past him to send something after us to stop us from escaping."

* * *

><p>"This is something," said Phineas as he, Ferb, and Perry peered over the edge of a lava pit. There was safe terrain far out on the other side, but a considerable distance below them. "Did we take a wrong turn somewhere back there?"<p>

"We can't have," said Candace. "There is only one path in this part of the mines; Baljeet said as much. Perry, get me Baljeet again please."

"Are you there?" asked the hologram of Baljeet as it showed up.

"Baljeet, what is _this_?" asked Candace. Perry angled his communicator so Baljeet could see the lava pit below.

"That is a lava pit," said Baljeet. "They form when-"

"You know what I mean, Baljeet," Candace cut him off, only barely keeping her cool. "Did you forget to inform us that the path was a dead end?"

Baljeet scratched his head and his eyes scanned up and down as though reading something. "Now that I reread this, there is a narrow strip across the path that is shaded in by diagonal lines, which, according to my legend, indicates 'lava pit'."

Candace frowned.

"I am very sorry, Sir," Baljeet apologized. "But you have gliders, do you not? I do not think the width of the pit exceeds your gliding capacity."

"I just wanted to know if we'd gotten lost," Candace said. "You are dismissed, Baljeet, but I don't believe we need anymore unnecessary delays."

Baljeet blinked and the hologram vanished in the split second his eyes were still closed.

"You all know how to use your gliders, soldiers?" Candace inquired of the others.

"Yes, Sir," Phineas answered. Ferb tugged on his glider string so that the glider's wings sprung out on either side of him. He gave a thumbs up.

"I wish we could have given you some basic training beforehand," Candace lamented, "but you'll have to figure it out. I'll go first and you can watch how it's done."

Before she could make her move, however, Perry's wrist communicator blinked. A hologram burst from the communicator, catching everyone's eye. More surprising than its sudden appearance, however, was who the hologram was. It was not Isabella or Baljeet. It wasn't even Major Monogram.

It was Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz.

Candace steeled herself, secretly fearing the worst. If Doofenshmirtz had managed to capture either Isabella or Baljeet, they would be in a bind.

Doofenshmirtz cackled. "Well, well, well, Perry the Platypus," he said, turning his eyes on Perry. "I see that you're all..." He looked around. "All in one piece."

Phineas's mouth was open in surprise, in contrast to his companions, who, though no less bemused, remained impassive.

Doofenshmirtz grinned. "You might be wondering how I've managed to, ah, contact you and your friends, Perry the Platypus. Your agency isn't the only one with wireless technology, you know. The password to your communicator is the same as the one this dimension Perry the Platypus - now Platyborg; you've met - had when he was a secret agent. I can't reach him now, they seem to have changed _his_ password." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But since you're here I thought I'd give it a try, and it worked! Well, uh, just checking up on you all, making sure that..." His voice trailed off.

Doofenshmirtz's hologram turned around and, upon seeing the lava pit, his eyes lit up.

"It's a little known fact," he said, "but a good way to get out of the mess you are in now is to jump straight into that lava pit. Go on, try it." He grinned at the group. "See you later, Perry the Platypus. I still have a dimension to take over."

With that, the hologram disappeared.

"Come on," said Candace, privately relieved that Doofenshmirtz had not captured any of her officers after all. "So he knows we're alive now and can keep track of us. We must pick up the pace and keep going."

She walked up to the edge and jumped without taking a running start, activating her glider simultaneously. With her body tilted forward she sailed through the air, easily clearing the width of the pit even as she lost altitude. Once she had reached a safe height, she let go of her glider string so that the wings retracted and she dropped to the ground without harm.

"That looks fun," Phineas remarked as he and Ferb followed. Perry, who already had experience in using gliders occasionally on his missions, went last in case the boys needed help, but there was no need. All three of them landed on the other side without mishap.

* * *

><p>"Thought we'd run into these sooner or later," Candace whispered. They had reached another chamber in the mines, and as they peered around the corner they could see that this one was filled with robots.<p>

There were several types of robots in the chamber. Phineas, Ferb, and Perry recognized one, a Norm Bot. It was larger than any of the other robots and hovered a foot or two off the ground. The other robot varieties were new to them.

Smallest of all were a group of flashing robots that buzzed around through the air in a tight swarm, but most of the robots roved about on the ground. Some were small and gray, almost cube shaped. They carried brooms, dusting the ground as they went. These were evidently cleaning robots. Others were slightly larger and sturdier, resembling miniature bulldozers.

"Guns at the ready, soldiers," Candace warned. "We shouldn't have much trouble with such a small group of them, but stay close and shoot on sight. Keep an eye on that Norm Bot."

She drew her ray gun around the corner and fired several rounds into the midst of the robots. The small swarming robots were the first to detect the intruders, and they flew forward instantly to attack. Candace's blasts knocked them easily out of the air. Phineas added his swift red sparks to the fray, and between them they made short work of the small robots.

Perry bounded straight into the chamber, leaping over the ground-bound robots to attack the Norm Bot. As the Norm Bot recognized that it was under attack, it turned so that it faced its opponent and raised an arm to blast the threat with its built-in arm cannon.

The secret agent platypus was far more agile than the cumbersome Norm Bot and easily avoided its counterattack. In spite of its relative slowness, however, the Norm Bot was sturdy enough to withstand the shots from even Perry's powerful ray gun. The large robot turned around again for another attack.

As Perry engaged the Norm Bot, Ferb walked silently into the chamber. The bulldozer-like security robots, sensing his presence, lit up the bright red lights they had on top of them. The one nearest to him charged.

With quick reflexes Ferb jumped over the charging robot, unfazed. He pulled out his ray gun and fired at the robot's rear before it could turn around. His ray gun shot luminous green spheres that splattered against the target with a distinct "phut-phut-phut" noise. The security robot broke down, a gaping hole burned into its outer hull.

A second security robot also tried to attack Ferb, but he managed to sidestep its charge as well. A series of red sparks struck the robot as Phineas ran to join his brother. Ferb gave him a thumbs up, but Phineas's rapid fire wasn't enough to destroy the security robot. As it revved up another charge, Ferb opened fire, finishing it off.

Perry jumped at the Norm Bot. Instead of firing, the robot lunged and tried to swipe him out of the air with an arm as it saw him approach. Perry, however, landed a few inches beyond its swipe and slid beneath it. Being slow to turn, the Norm Bot couldn't react fast enough as Perry peppered it in the back with multiple shots. Finally, it crashed to the ground, overcome by the damage it had taken.

Candace calmly took out the remaining security robots. Alone of all the robots the cleaning robots did not react at all to the disturbance. They really seemed to only be nothing more than cleaners, with only enough awareness of their surroundings to recognize obstacles and get out of their way. They continued to dust away peacefully, entirely oblivious to to the smashed remains of their fellow robots.

Candace aimed and blasted the cleaning robots to smithereens with a single hit each.

"Not taking any chances," she said. She walked past the others and out of the chamber.

The others all stood still for a few moments. Perry tipped his hat slightly, then turned and followed Candace. Phineas, however, went over to one of the fallen robots. It was a cleaning robot, now reduced to scrap metal.

"Check this out, Ferb," he said.

Most of the robot's parts were beyond recognition. Shifting through the rubble with his fingers, however, Phineas found a complete gear. It was not just any gear though. This gear had a reflective surface that shone with all the colors of a rainbow, similar to the underside of a compact disc.

Phineas dusted off the gear's shiny surface and handed it to Ferb, who examined the strange object with interest before pocketing it. They then set off after their companions.

* * *

><p>Fortunately, Candace and Perry hadn't gone very far and were still in sight when Phineas and Ferb exited the chamber. Before Candace could reprimand her other-dimension brothers for staying behind unnecessarily, Perry's wrist communicator lit up.<p>

To the group's relief, it was Baljeet who showed up this time and not Doofenshmirtz.

"Sir," Baljeet exclaimed. "How far along are you? Have you reached another lava pit yet?"

"No," said Candace. "We just left a chamber filled with killer robots."

"My map does not show robots," Baljeet pointed out, "but thank goodness. I popped in to warn you that you are approaching another lava pit ahead."

"I can see it!" said Phineas. The others all turned in the direction he was pointing, and at once they saw a problem.

"See, that is why I had to inform you," Baljeet explained.

Unlike the previous lava pit, the two opposite sides of this one were almost level with one another. There was no convenient ledge from which they could glide from.

"So we came all the way here for nothing?" Candace muttered, not bothering to keep her frustration out of her voice. "Is there no other way...?"

"There is, Sir," Baljeet answered, almost beaming. "My sources indicate that there is a power generator nearby. We can hack into Doofenshmirtz's systems, courtesy of your brothers' service here in the Resistance. Granted we currently only have access to the security functions, but if we divert all that power to your location that energy would be sufficient to create a portal into the First Dimension, thus potentially freeing you from your predicament."

Candace shook her head slightly, marveling inwardly at all her own brothers had accomplished in the Resistance in spite of their extremely brief service. "Sounds good, Baljeet," she said. "If this works we might not have to navigate the mines after all."

"Yeah," said Phineas. "And then if we can open up another portal from the other side and return to the Second Dimension, Dr. Doofenshmirtz would never see us coming."

"Unless he decides to call in again..." Candace reminded the others darkly. "We have to work fast."

"Here we go," Baljeet said, sounding uncharacteristically excited. His pushed his index finger down, evidently pressing a button.

A portal erupted from the ground behind the group.

"Try to go through all at once," Baljeet advised. "Like any portal created against the flow of energy it might not hold for long and is sensitive even to slight disturbances."

"We don't have any other choice," Candace noted. "We're going in, soldiers."

The group lined up in front of the portal and stepped in as one. As Baljeet had predicted, the portal immediately sealed itself behind them.

"Pretty neat, right?" Baljeet inquired.

"Baljeet..." Candace started. "We're still in the mines."

"But you must be in the First Dimension mines, are you not?" Baljeet asked, his short-lived excitement draining from his voice.

"They do look different," Candace admitted. "But more importantly, that lava pit is still there... although there is a convenient platform hovering there that we can use to cross it."

"It looks like I cannot control location here. Wherever you are you will arrive exactly at its corresponding location in an alternate dimension," Baljeet observed. "Heeey, what is happening?"

Perry gave Baljeet an apologetic look. He had pulled out his sketchpad and had been writing something down, his wrist movements causing Baljeet's vision to go blurry. He transferred his pencil to his other hand and finished what he was writing, then held it up for everyone to see.

_But First Dimension Doofenshmirtz does not have mines beneath his lab_, he had written.

Baljeet lifted a finger to his mouth. "Maybe this is the wrong dimension. But I am positive I activated a portal against the flow of energy."

"Dr. Baljeet, are there any other power generators ahead?" asked Phineas.

"Yes," Baljeet affirmed, "but the nearest one is on the other side of the lava pit... Oh." The solution dawned on him.

"If we cross the lava pit in this dimension, and you activate a portal from the Second Dimension," Phineas reasoned, "we can return to the Second Dimension and keep on going."

"It wouldn't be what we hoped for, but it's all we got," Candace agreed. "Permission to carry out plan granted."

She walked to the side of the lava pit. "Don't follow until I get off the platform," she instructed. "Come one at a time, troops. Baljeet, activate the portal once we have all reached the other side." She jumped onto the hovering platform. It didn't even wobble, and she reached the opposite side uneventfully. Phineas followed, then Ferb, and Perry once again brought up the rear.

"Here goes," said Baljeet. He activated a portal once more, and again a portal sprang forth from the ground. After lining up, the group stepped through and the portal disintegrated.

"That worked," Candace observed. They were back in the mines of the Second Dimension, though safely on the opposite side of the lava pit. "Good work, soldiers."

"I can see the mine carts ahead!" Baljeet pointed out to the group. "Do you not feel good about yourselves?

With Baljeet's assistance and some ingenuity, the group had gotten past this stretch of their unforeseen adventure. Nonetheless, the presence of mines where they shouldn't have been in the First Dimension - if that really was the First Dimension - remained a mystery.


End file.
